Recruiting Suggestions for 1* Program?

[Andrews85]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpHSpH

Is there any negative associated with having 35 players on my recruiting board but not spending minutes on all of them? What if I have some players there just to keep an eye on? The other 35-8 = 27 guys are a mix of players who have me listed in their Top10. Is this a mistake? How?

For the first question, it doesn't hurt that you have a prospect on your board and dont talk to him at all, but your school might on his TOP 10 list if you dont show him any interest.

For your 2nd question, If you only need 2 MLB's and a C then targeting 5 MLB's and 3 C's is good IMO. But I would not split the rest of the time among the other 27 random recruits. I would stay under 16 recruits at a time but thats just me. After you get a commit from someone then add another recruit.

[MindFlare]

I have a recruiting question, is it better to have recruiting assistance on or off? and why?

[Andrews85]

Quote: Originally Posted by MindFlare

I have a recruiting question, is it better to have recruiting assistance on or off? and why?

Well I turn if OFF, because I find all the prospects that I think will be best in my system. Ive never really used it so I cant say if its beneficial or not.

[doctorhay53]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpHSpH

I am just beginning a dynasty with Temple (1* program). Any suggestions for filling my board / weekly recruiting? Should I only bother looking at players who have me in their Top10? Do I even have any chance at getting other players to Temple? Stick with local (PA / NJ / NY) kids? My pre-season board is mostly 2* players (there are two 3* on there). I am new to this - any help would be great. Thanks!

I've been playing a 1* dynasty with Arkansas State. Let me tell you my recruiting strategy.

1st: a note about how I play. I use ask corso because CPU playcalling is so bad it would be too great an advantage for me to call plays. I use Heisman sliders from Fist, quite a bit easier than his current set, but still challenging to 75-80% of players I imagine. I leave coaching settings where they are and try to learn how the CPU call my plays so that I can recruit more effectively.

NOW: recruiting. Here is my strategy in a nutshell.
At first, when filling your recruiting board, only try to get people who have your team in the top three or so.....it'll really help you conserve that precious recruiting time. This is the most important part for me: pick 10-15 guys at this point, most likely all 2* recruits, and focus on them for at least 6 weeks. you should have all of them solidly under control at the halfway point. This will give your recruiting class a solid base of 'need' players.

ALWAYS manual call, except maybe that first week. Typically I quick call and offer everyone in the first week, but I'm still trying to decide what to do there. Even though quick call seems more time-efficient, it does not always make smart decisions, and you need all of that time. ALWAYS unlock the things you're good at first.....as a 1* team you probably will have great-elite in 'proximity' and/or 'early playing time', with a good in one or two others 'conference, academics' maybe. As soon as you find something he's interested in, hard-sell it every week, make sure you have three things to give him on his visit, and check as many of the other pitches you have time for to make sure you don't need to sway him down so another team doesn't have something to hard-sell against you.

Make sure you try to schedule their visits for a rivalry game. If you have a couple of decent pitches and a rivalry win, their grade will almost always be B+, A-, or A. Even a loss is better if its a rival. I've found that time of year for the visit hasn't made a huge difference for my dynasty.

Around week 7 or 8, go to 'search' and search for players in pipeline states, with 10 schools remaining, 3*, at your positions of interest. Sometimes I start adding them even earlier, if I have leftover time because things are going well with my 2* guys. I usually add 2,3,4 at a time. Obviously make sure no other team is recruiting him. This is the most important part of this step: Don't offer until you unlock those previously mentioned pitches your team is good in. If the guy doesn't have anything you can either sway up, or hard-sell right away, just ditch him. He'll waste alot of your time. Otherwise, plop him up to the top of your recruiting list and give them as much time as you can. At this point my 2* guys are so happy with me, the hard-sells take less time than initially (at least thats the way it seems to me).

Don't be discouraged if you don't shoot up his list. Sometimes I've signed a guy in offseason recruiting even though I wasn't in the top ten at the end of the season. If you've got a pitch to give him, just keep selling it.

Of course, you'll benefit greatly from actually looking at the important atrributes of the 2* guys you pick. My team is a running team, so in my OL I look for the run blocking stats and strength, for instance. Have fun with this part...its a very interesting part of the game that I think people who use the big-time programs overlook sometimes because they can sign whoever they want. As a 1* team it isn't like that.

Once you get to the offseason, most likely all of your 2* guys will already be committed, except maybe one or two. Now its time to start promising your 3* guys some stuff. Start with 'no redshirt', then 'winning record against rivals' or 'significant playing time', whatever you're comfortable with and promises you will be able to keep....they'll transfer if you don't. You should have a TON of free recruting time to spend on whatever you want at this point. If you use it wisely you can REALLY improve your team in the long run. These guys aren't necessarily year 1 starters. Your team will surely drop off because EA gives the bad teams horrible depth to keep them bad (actually they get steadily worse usually). In year one I had a 50's level recruting class by signing 6 3 star guys and 13 2*. In year 2, I had to promise a 3 star RB playing time to get him to sign, and had to make him a starter above a returning senior, but he's rewarded me with 1100 yards with a 4.8 YPC through 9 games and 9 TD's (I'm 5-4). My records were 5-7, 6-7 (bowl loss) and currently 5-4. SO you can see I play it straight with gameplay so this recruting method doesn't require you to win a TON of games. Winning certainly helps though

Hope this helps. Let me know if anything is confusing or if you have questions. Good luck, and have fun! I certainly am. I look forward to recruiting every week and I can't wait to get to a BCS conference somehow.

[SpHSpH]

Wow - thank you for the detailed response.

I enjoy the "game within a game" part of the game.

Especially since the "actual" game has a a variety of problems.

[doctorhay53]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpHSpH

Wow - thank you for the detailed response. I enjoy the "game within a game" part of the game. Especially since the "actual" game has a a variety of problems.

No problem. Keep in mind that this is just one of many successful strategies. My strategy evolves from (in-game) year-to-year, depending on what worked/didn't the year before. I play NCAA more than any other game basically every year, and I always start with a 1* team, so I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the game.

Consider this as a detailed example, not neccessarily a strategy guide. Prior to doing it this way, and prior to patch 1 when I was simming alot, I developed a method where I could sign 25 guys using only quick call. But I would lose more recruits than I liked, having to pick up some of my second and third options at some positions, so I started doing it this way. If you hit the 2* guys really hard right away, the other CPU teams on his list will see it's a lost cause and he'll be safely yours pretty early on.

Hope I could help you improve your experience.

And BTW, I don't think the game is that bad. You have to learn to accept that ANY video game ALWAYS has flaws, and once you truly do that, you will have a much better experience with NCAA. Some people can't because they want more out of it....I love football too much to be upset by it so I take what I can and get a TON of fun out of it. More this year than ever, since I switched to heisman. Should have done that two years ago.

[jbrew2411]

I started a dynasty with a 1* to try and work my way up. I choose Fla. Atlantic for 2 reasons. 1)state of Florida w/ great recruiters and 2)UF, FSU, & The"U" transfers. Like the guy said in detail about recruiting is the way I did it also. I played for 3 seasons until I took a better job at SMU. I was able to win 7 games in year 1 and 6 in year 2. The big year was year 3. I had planed on getting a good many transfers but I ended up with a stand-out team. I had 10 guys transfer in my first year with all but 1 from a Fla. school. I would recruit with the hopes of getting a transfer that was better at that position. An ex. is, I need a MLB so I signed a 2* guy but in the off-season I had a 80ovr MLB from FSU transfer in. In yr. 2 I played the 2* guy and a upper class men I had and improved them enough to be solid back-ups but in yr. 3 started my guy from FSU. I say year 3 was my big year because I finished the year with 11 wins and ranked 10th. I was 14th in the BCS before bowl season almost making it in. I don't think I could have had as much success with a 1* team if it had not been for the transfers. I have yet to finish a dynasty where a ton of guys didn't transfer. So if your team is close to a big time school that gets guys that don't play they will almost always transfer out and you could win from it. So I would keep that in mind that its ok to sign a 2* guy because you might land a transfer that will help you out in a year at the same position.
Side note: I took a different job because I had no one on offense after yr 3 but still had a good D, and wanted to move up to a better conference. The Sun Belt on;y gave me that 1 option for a bowl game.